Robert A. Dahl has 2 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 2 narrators. The most-rated is How Democratic Is the American Constitution?.
On Democracy
Summary
The last half of the 20th century was an era of democratic triumph. The main antidemocratic regimes - communist, fascist, Nazi - disappeared, and new democracies emerged vigorously or tenatively throughout the world. In this accessible and authoratative book, one of the most prominent political theorists of our time provides a primer on democracy that clarifies what it is, why it is valuable, how it works, and what challenges it confronts in the future. Robert Dahl begins with an overview of the early history of democracy. He goes on to discuss differences among democracies, criteria for a democratic process, basic institutions necessary for advancing the goals of democracy, and the social and economic conditions that favor the development and maintenance of these institutions. Along the way, he illustrates his points by describing different democratic countries, explaining, for example, why India, which seems to lack most of the conditions for a stable democracy, is nevertheless able to sustain one. Dahl answers such puzzling questions as why market-capitalism can both favor and harm democracy. And he concludes by examining the major problems that democratic countries will face in the 21st century, problems that will arise from complexities in the economic order, from internationalization, from cultural diversity, and from the difficulty of achieving an adequate level of citizen competence. This book is published by Yale University Press.
©1998 Yale University (P)2010 Redwood Audiobooks
How Democratic Is the American Constitution?
Summary
In this fascinating book, the author begins by looking at the ways in which the framers of our Constitution were hampered in their work. They could not know about developments in democratic procedures that hadn't yet been devised, and they had no model of the democracy they were attempting to structure, which could have guided them in their deliberations. The Constitution written by these talented but fallible men is seen by many as a sacred icon, but Robert A. Dahl examines what have turned out to be some of its less democratic features. He compares the functioning of our country with that of other advanced democracies who do some things quite differently and possibly more democratically. What can we learn from them and do we want to adopt some of the measures that make these other democracies often work so well? Changes have been made in our Constitution since 1787. It can be altered and has been many times. For example, when citizens became convinced that slavery should not be allowed to continue, the Constitution was amended to repeal it. When 50 percent of the population, women, were recognized as citizens who deserved equality, they were given the franchise. Dahl wonders if other important changes in our national document are possible. Could changes in the unequal representation of two senators from every state, regardless of population, ever win approval in the Senate or enough popular support in the small states to result in an amendment that required the number of senators in each state to reflect the population of that state? Or could we alter the way in which our presidents are selected by an electoral college, resulting in several elections, including that of 2000, in which presidents have been chosen who did not win a majority of popular votes? The author discusses the likelihood of success in making the changes just mentioned, and suggests that short of that, there are helpful alterations that could be made in the "unwritten" constitution.
©2003 Yale University (P)2009 Polity Audio LLC